We like dividends, we like the continuous cash-flow, we like it when it grows organically. On this page we keep track of our holdings.

History Dividend Portfolio

We lived abroad for a few years and at that time we discovered FIRE. As we didn’t know what investment type fitted us best, so we tried different things, including dividend growth investing (DGI). Now, dividend growth investing is not easy, it takes time and effort to do it right. It also means you need to get you impulses under control and look at the long term (short term yield chasing never pays off). Some people like Bob (Tawcan) are really good at this, some (like me – Mrs CF doesn’t do much with the dividend shares) are not. It took me years to get this about right (and I still fuck up occasionally). Point in case:

Yearly Dividend (2023 up to mid november)

Albeit there is a nice upward trend, the road has been a bit rocky. Here is why:

  • We have/had shares in Canada and the Netherlands (the latter only in 2016-2017 – sold to invest more in real estate);
  • We bought and sold quite a few stocks, in an attempt to find the right ones for us (as a result we have fewer stocks now than when we started in 2015/2016);
  • We had stocks that were pulled from the exchange;
  • We had companies that failed, and stock prices tanked;
  • “panicked”/ traded too many times in 2020 with the Corona sell-off; and,
  • The exchange rate fluctuates; hence values change (as we converted everything to €).

Organic Growth Dividend Portfolio

The above being said; when we purely look at our dividend portfolio in Canada (all in RRSP’s = Registered Retirement Savings Plans) and not convert to €, it looks a lot better:

Updated to mid december 2023

Overall we didn’t do too bad with this portfolio. What’s interesting here is that we contributed funds only in 2015 (moved all our mutual funds into our self-directed accounts). We started investing our cash that year and throughout 2016. About 90% of all funds were invested by late 2016. Currently we are fully invested and have very little cash available. Albeit we sold a part of the portfolio in 2020, we were smart enough to not touch most of it. Hence, the impact in 2020 was limited and because we were fully invested again in 2021, the dividend income went upwards once again. The organic growth is nicely visible in this graph.

Distribution & Stocks

The Canadian market is very energy and mining driven. Hence, we have a fairly conservative portfolio in terms of type of companies. The portfolio roughly looks like this:

Dividend Stocks by Sector

As of the end of October 2022 we have the following portfolio:

The portfolio certainly is not perfect, but it does seem to work for now. As this is all within RRSPs, we will pay 25% withholding taxes once we take it out and any further taxation is done in the Netherlands (it is Box 1 taxed – as it is seen as income once you withdraw). We can take money out at any time, but plan to keep it in for as long as possible to let it grow tax sheltered. We are not paying any dividend withholding taxes as all dividends originate from within Canada and stocks are held in RRSP’s.